Wikipedia is the well-known free online encyclopaedia. It's not usually recommended as a source for scholarly research or academic writing, as it is open to editing by anyone, and might therefore include information that is biased, incorrect, or misleading.

But, if used with care, Wikipedia articles can have some use for you as students:

• They will often start with a definition.
• They can be a good way to get generalised background information, and an overview of a topic that might otherwise be unfamiliar to you.
• They can suggest alternative terms (synonyms) that you can use as search terms.
• They can suggest the names of key people involved, and you can search for these people as topics or as authors in scholarly literature.
• While not regarded as scholarly themselves, they can provide links to other resources that might be considered suitable for your research.
• There is often a reference list at the end.

But note: As with any resources used in your resource, you should be evaluating any resources that you link to from Wikipedia. We suggest using the CRAP Test: Currency, Reliability, Authority, Purpose. See the page in this guide on Evaluating information.

You wouldn't want to use Wikipedia as a credited source for your essays. But you might use it as a lead-in to a topic, and as a way to get a definition and/or overview, alternative terms or names to use as search terms, and suggestions of other sources.